Republicans Propose Education Cuts to Minimum Funding Levels

Photo by !manny! via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr

Among the $22 billion in proposed cuts by state Republicans today, close to half that, 10.6 billion, would be cut from K-12 schools and community colleges. "That would bring school funding to just about the minimum required by state law," the Sacramento Bee notes.

That funding level would be "the equivalent to shutting down the three largest school districts in the state, or over $1,300 a kid," according to Senate President Pro Tem and Democrat Darrell Steinberg. "That's no way to build for the future... "Republicans obviously don't think the time for ideology and posturing is over."

California's budget is projected to be around $40 billion in two years. The LA Times found today said that some believe "this nation-state is so oversized, Balkanized and polarized that it is destined for dysfunction no matter who is in charge. They cite its influx of immigrants, its constant tensions over water supply and its large, self-contained regions that bear little resemblance to one another. One blog proposes to break the state into three or secede from the union and still break the state into three.